Well, I have not been able to play in the studio too much lately, but others have! So I thought I would show some of the things that are going on around here! Above is a group of pendants made by my buddy sheryl67  's two kids, Little B and Big B! They did a great job, and loved playing with the glitter and paper and stuff. I did the messy work of the resin while they weren't here, but otherwise, they did all the work themselves, including the hammering and dapping of the metal!

sheryl67 made three things that day too! In between keeping the girls busy and chatting with me, she made these three cool pendants. They look even cooler in reality, because the resin amplifies the glitter. I love the one on the left, a cut out bit of a map, with a little gear and shiny stone where Detroit is! I didn't notice this until they left and I was pouring the resin, but I love it! What a great way to celebrate our hometown in a subtle sort of way. The bunny with the gear is really cute too!

And something a little bit different here... Alex (drummermc )just poured this pewter medallion tonight for his costume for ConStruct. Within about an hour, he roughly carved the design into a piece of wood, and then melted the pewter and poured it right into the wood. He called it Neanderthal Casting. Which is perfect for the costume that he is working on, a replica of the 1980's Conan the Barbarian movie costume. I hope to work on my silly little costume soon, too.

Even if I can't do fun new crafty stuff myself right now, I do love seeing it happen all around me. It's fun to know so many crafty people who will share their time with me!

Today is Extra Extra links day, so that will follow below, but it is also extra imagery day. In my studies last week looking at Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts, I remembered these beautiful objects I saw in Chicago. After much googling and finally needing to ask my Chicago friend, I found the things that were rattling around in my brain. The items in this post are various decorative hardware elements designed by Louis Sullivan for the old Chicago Stock Exchange building, I believe.

So thank you all for following my little journey back in time with the art history this week. I hope it was interesting, I know I learned a lot! I think it was a little stretch to think about Arts and Crafts in the context of Steampunk, since it is usually more Victorian influenced, but I think it fits. I wanted to draw the parallels in my own mind at least, and I think I have.

So just a little extra tidbit, that I found in my research this week. It is about the Roycroft guild of artisans. Roycroft has a fascinating history, with lots of great philosophy and beautiful items to lure me, but I cannot spend any more time studying it deeply for today. I do want to share a quotation from John Ruskin, which formed the Roycroft "creed":

The studio calls today, loud and clear... so not much time to dive into art history or anything too thoughtful. Today's a good day for a mindflood. This is when I fill a post with visuals that I find interesting and let the images wash over my mind. Maybe yours too...

Ladies and Gentlemen...Boys and Girls! Gather around to see the magnificent madness that is the pottery of George E Ohr, the self proclaimed Mad Potter of Biloxi. Witness his wildy varied pottery styles and forms, no two alike, all created in the late 1800's and early 1900's, before his death in 1918.